This invention relates to container closure assemblies employing two separate tapes. More particularly, this invention provides a tear template which permits clean opening of containers having tape closure assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,603 (Brochman), incorporated herein by reference, describes a particularly viable two-tape closure system which is used to seal a container having therein a carbonated beverage. Such patent describes the parameters which must be met by a two-tape easy open closure system having an exterior tape and an interior sheet material situated circumjacent (over and surrounding) a preformed opening (i.e. a pour hole) in a container end portion so that a gas-containing beverage may be contained during processing, storage, and up to the time of ultimate consumption of the beverage.
As a general matter, viable two-tape closure systems are a compromise between the desire to contain a pressurized beverage and the usually conflicting desire of having a closure system which can be easily opened by small children or weaker adults. The more aggressively the tapes are bonded to the beverage container, the more difficult the opening of the container becomes.
One of the problems that develops in balancing the aforementioned desires toward ease of opening is that of creep. When the closure system is designed so as to be more easily openable, such as by making the exterior tapes more easily removable, the potential for the tape to release slowly (that is, to "creep") from the container end portion during storage or shipment increases. As the exterior tape releases (usually in response to increased internal container pressure produced by an increase in ambient temperature ) it begins to bubble or bulge away from the container end in the area of the pour hole. Under the extremes of interior pressure occasionally encountered in the containment of carbonated beverages at high ambient temperatures, a bulge may become prominent enough so as to be esthetically displeasing or to significantly increase the chance it will be ruptured, thereby venting the container.
Although creep may be eliminated by more aggressively adhering the exterior tape and interior sheet material to the container end circumjacent the preformed opening therein, this makes opening of the container more difficult for children and weaker adults. The present invention provides means to aggressively adhere the exterior tape to the container end and yet produce a closure system which is easily hand opened.